Shadewing's Story
by MetaKnightRoxMySox
Summary: A vampire story that takes place in the Kirby universe. Join young Shadewing on a journey to fight the evil inside himself and bring goodness to the world.
1. In a Heartbeat Part 1

**In a Heartbeat**

**1**

The young Kirbite tossed and turned in his bed. Even though it was almost an hour past his bedtime, he couldn't sleep, not with the horrific images of his recently deceased father flashing through his mind. He opened his eyes, giving up, and wiped the sweat from his brow. He leaned over, turned on a light, and then stared at the ceiling of his bedroom, shaking.

He was a ten-year old wingless child, barely over a foot tall, with spring green skin and ashy gray feet. His full name was Shadewing Etamonias Andanteo. As he thought about what had happened two days ago, tears began to leak from his clear blue eyes. Soon, his grief overwhelmed him, and he sobbed quietly into his pillow for several minutes.

On his way to school in the morning, he had heard a commotion nearby and had gone to investigate. There was a crowd of people filling the entrance of an alleyway, blocking the view of whatever was happening. Shadewing stood on the tips of his feet, trying to see, but with no luck. Suddenly, somebody cried out, "He's dead! Cail is dead!" At the sound of his father's name, shock filled him. For a long time, he couldn't move. He was aware only of the whispering of the crowd. He roused himself and pushed his way through the crowd, dreading what he might find.

Nothing could have prepared him for the sight of his father. As he emerged from the front of the crowd, everybody fell silent. There, at the end of the alley, lay Cail. His eyes were open, their ghastly gaze fixed toward the sky. His throat was ripped out, his right hand utterly crushed. He had been beaten, but strangely there was no blood anywhere.

"Daddy?" Shadewing said in a small voice. "Daddy? Daddy!" he cried as he ran to his father's side. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he cried loudly, unable to contain his shock and fear. He knew that his father would never wake up again, but he willed it with all his heart. The crowd behind him parted as his mother Silva arrived. She told somebody to take his sister Sophy home, then quietly approached. She took her son in her arms and brought him away from the grisly scene, her own tears flowing freely.

"Who could have done this?" Silva asked the police chief. "It's not a question of who, but of what," he replied. "No normal person could do such damage. The fact is that, even though his throat is cut, there's no blood at all. He's been drained, but I just don't see how that could be." The answer immediately popped into Shadewing's young mind, though the adults remained puzzled. He was too stricken with grief to say anything.

Back home, the family held each other, comforting each other in the loss of their dear father and husband. Shadewing didn't go to school that day or the following days, though Sophy did. She hadn't seen what he had seen. He couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, couldn't really feel anything at all. He loved his family dearly, and he had been particularly close to his father. He couldn't imagine living without him and refused to accept that he was gone.

One of his few comforts in this time of sadness was his friend Yai, an adult Kirbite with light gray skin, feet, and bat wings. Yai had come to Legerston, Shadewing's hometown, a few weeks ago, and Shadewing had made an effort to be friends. Yai had made him smile when he said how noble his father had been in life. He hoped that Yai would spend more time with them, as Shadewing found their friendship very comforting. His mother, on the other hand, didn't like Yai very much, and, when asked about it, said that there was something off about him.

Now, lying in bed, Shadewing thought about the past. He thought about how his father would play with him, always being fair and sometimes letting him win. He thought about the stuffed wolf Cail had gotten him for his 10th birthday, whose neck he was squeezing tightly now. He thought about how, for a few months now, news of mysterious murders had been coming in from numerous places almost every day. No one had thought that such tragedy could strike so close to home, but it had. Shadewing also thought about the future, wondering what it might hold.

He didn't have to wonder long. He sat up, listening for a noise that he wasn't sure he had heard. It came again just as he was beginning to believe he had imagined it. He got up and looked out the window, sure that it had come from outside. He thought that he had seen a shadow move, and he stared squinting at the spot. He heard the noise again, and opened the window in order to hear better.

He saw more movement, but, before he could look, something pushed him backwards into his room. A great, hulking shadow stood over him, then quickly vanished. Shadewing looked around for it, his heart pounding. Suddenly, a sweet-smelling cloth was pulled over his face. He struggled against it, but couldn't breathe. He quieted, helpless. His vision went black as he fell unconscious. The shadow released the child, then slung him over its shoulder and jumped out the window into the night beyond.


	2. In a Heartbeat Part 2

**2**

The child started awake. Dazed and confused, Shadewing stood up. He teetered and grabbed a nearby tree for support. It occurred to his sleepy mind that something wasn't right. He looked around and found himself surrounded by trees. The realization that he didn't know where he was woke him up and set his heart to pounding. The last thing he remembered was being in his bedroom, trying to fall asleep. He vaguely remembered a noise and a feeling of suffocation, but nothing else.

He jumped when a bush in front of him rustled. A shadow emerged from the gloom and developed into the shape of a Kirbite. Shadewing gasped as he recognized Yai. Confused, he waited for Yai to come forward and explain what was going on, but the gray-skinned man didn't do either. Instead, he merely smiled. As the seconds passed, his smile grew until it became clear that he meant to do Shadewing harm.

Yai began to shudder. As the tremors quickened, his light gray skin darkened until it was almost black. Shadewing watched in awe and fear as Yai transformed, his earlier suspicions confirmed. Before him stood a vampire, whom he had previously considered to be his friend. Shock ran through him as he realized that he had been betrayed.

Yai stood there for a few more moments, letting Shadewing get a good look at him. Yai's fingers were tipped with razor-sharp claws. He was about a foot taller now, his body having grown in proportion with the additional height. Black triangular feathers had sprouted from his bat wings. His eyes, where they had been lavender before, were now blood red with pupils the color of dried blood. All through this he had never stopped smiling, only now his jaws were lined with sharp triangular teeth, the incisors being longer than the rest by several inches.

Yai uttered one word. "Run." Shadewing didn't need anyone to tell him to, as it was the instinct of his body to flee from the monstrosity before him. He turned and ran blindly into the forest, not caring where he was going. Leaves and branches whipped into him as he weaved between trees. Finally, when he couldn't breathe anymore, he stopped at the edge of a clearing to rest. Scratched and bruised, he wildly looked around, trying to see if Yai had followed him. Just when he thought he might have gotten away, Yai emerged once more from the surrounding foliage, chuckling quietly to himself.

Shadewing gasped, shrinking back against a tree in terror. Yai began to approach, his eyes reflecting his glee at the child's despair. Shadewing shivered with fear, his entire body tense in the expectation of what was to come. He knew that what had happened to his father was about to happen to him. He knew that there was nothing that he could do to defend himself. Eyes fixed on the ground, he helplessly waited for Yai to reach him.

He looked up when Yai's moonlit shadow fell over him. He found himself looking deep into the vampire's blazing red eyes, his own eyes silently pleading for the mercy that he knew would never come. Yai gently touched him on the shoulder with a single, icy finger. Shadewing could feel the tip of the curved claw graze his skin, thought not with enough force to hurt. The gesture seemed almost tender, but it was easy to sense the dark intentions that lurked behind it. Why had he never felt how cold Yai's touch was? Why had he never noticed the faint aroma of death that surrounded this evil man?

He shuddered once, and then stilled, his body relaxing. At the vampire's touch, he had immediately accepted the reality of his situation. Even though Shadewing accepted that this creature was going to kill him, he still wanted to know one thing. He steeled himself, then softly asked, "Why?" Yai cocked his head, a little surprised by the calm in the child's voice. He narrowed his eyes and drew closer. "Because…" he replied. "It's what I do." Shadewing shakily nodded and looked away. "I trusted you," he whispered. "You were my friend." "A trust most misplaced, child," Yai said, almost purring with pleasure. His teeth parted and he began to laugh. He laughed at Shadewing's helplessness, filled with the knowledge that he had the power to do whatever he pleased to this child. Shadewing paled, his ears ringing with scornful laughter. Yai was ready for the fun to start. He reached out towards the child, claws spread and eyes gleaming.


	3. In a Heartbeat Part 3

**Warning! This chapter rated M!**

**3**

With a deft movement, Yai knocked Shadewing forward and pinned him against the ground. He pressed down hard on the child's back, forcing his face into the dirt so that he had trouble breathing. Yai growled hungrily, and it was a sound more ferocious than that any animal could make. Shadewing whimpered, hearing that growl and feeling the weight of the cold skeleton hand holding him in place. Suddenly, there was a pain in his side and he found himself flying. He hit the ground and tumbled. Bruised, he looked up just in time to see Yai kick him again. He cried out when he struck the earth.

Yai walked up to Shadewing and picked him up. He tossed him high into the air and caught him when he came back down. Yai did this a few more times, playing catch with himself, before he smoothly stepped to the side and let Shadewing fall. He crashed down hard and felt something crack. He whimpered loudly as pain flooded through him.

Shadewing heard Yai coming towards him, but he was too weak to move away. Yai flipped him over so that Shadewing faced him. Yai gripped the boy's shoulder tightly, his razor-sharp smile inches from his face. The pressure increased slowly but steadily, until Shadewing's instinct took over. With a burst of adrenaline, he struggled to free himself, to no avail. Yai snarled viciously and smartly slapped him. He stopped struggling and lay shivering from fear and pain. Yai took his shoulder and squeezed again. Shadewing didn't know what he was trying to do, but it was quickly becoming more and more painful.

With a loud crack, the bone in his shoulder shattered. The child screamed with the terrible pain that followed. His screams died down as the pain settled into a deep-seated ache. Breathing heavily, he forgot all about Yai until he felt the vampire's grip shift to further down his arm. Feeling the new pressure, he realized just what Yai was going to do. His tears dripped quietly to the ground.

Again and again, Yai squeezed until the next section of bone cracked, and again and again the child screamed out of pain. Yai moved on to Shadewing's other arm and broke the bones there, too. It was a slow process, made to prolong the boy's agony. When he was done, Shadewing was left fighting to breath. Before he knew it, Yai stomped on his left foot, crushing it completely. Shadewing shuddered, but made no sound as he had lost the ability to scream long ago. Yai firmly grasped his right foot and twisted it brutally. The joint dislocated and broke with a sickening crunch. Yai released the boy and let him wallow in his own pain for a little while.

When he was ready, the vampire lifted the child's broken body up to eye level. Shadewing's blue eyes were glazed over, and his skin color had darkened considerably with internal bleeding. However, Yai had tortured him in such a way as to ensure that not a single drop of blood had been shed. It was rather surprising that Shadewing was still conscious, though barely.

Yai snorted with satisfaction and then flung the child across the clearing. He struck a tree and fell to the ground with a fractured spine, which unfortunately didn't cause a loss of feeling. Yai picked him up with one hand and slammed him against the tree. Held up by a cold hand against his throat, Shadewing knew that the end of his suffering was near, and he was glad for it. Yai used a claw to cut open a gash on the boy's forehead. Extending his snakelike tongue, he licked at the blood that flowed from the wound. He closed his burning eyes with bliss at the sweet taste, a hum sounding deep in his chest.

Yai turned Shadewing's face to the left, exposing his right side and neck, where one of the biggest arteries of his body was located. Yai leaned in, and, almost caressingly, whispered, "Prepare to die." Shadewing blinked once, and then Yai sunk his teeth into flesh. At first, there was only a small burning feeling as Yai paused to enjoy the taste. Then Yai began to drink, only a little at first but with increasing gusto. The sensation of being drained blotted out any other pain. It didn't hurt exactly, but it was such an alien and intrusive feeling that it caused Shadewing mental pain. It reached into every capillary of his body, even to those places where the shards of bone had cut muscle. Soon, he began to feel cold and empty, and his consciousness flickered and dimmed.

Yai finished and removed his mouth from the child's neck, leaving a small ring of red wounds. He licked his lips, a little regretful that his meal was over. He let go and Shadewing's ravaged body fell limply to the ground. The last thing Shadewing heard was Yai's horrible laugh as his spirit faded away.


	4. In a Heartbeat Part 4

**4**

He floated alone in the darkness, traveling towards a place only the dead knew. He wasn't particularly aware of anything, but he still noticed when something changed. Inky tendrils reached out from behind him and pulled him back to wherever it was that he came from. A fire was burning deep inside his heart, slowly spreading to the rest of his being. Its strength began to escalate and it soon became painful.

He became physically aware of himself again and realized that he had been pulled from the void. The fire was now burning at an unbearable level and he screamed and writhed, wanting to escape. His heart was pounding at an impossible rate, feeling as if it was going to explode. His bones expanded, healing and breaking in an endless cycle. He felt an intense itching at his shoulder blades and fingertips. His mouth became extremely dry and his jaws twinged occasionally. This made the earlier torture seem like resting on a pillow of clouds.

The extreme pain was beginning to blot out his very consciousness. Thoughts and memories were disappearing at a terrifying rate. Finally, only his name was left, and he held onto it with all his will. He had a feeling that something terrible would happen if he didn't fight to remember. He didn't have any notion of time, aware only of the searing pain and his fight to hold on. Bits and pieces of his identity flickered through what was left of his consciousness. At times, he slipped and forgot things, but he persevered and grew stronger. As the pain blessedly began to fade, he pieced together his identity back into a cohesive whole. Everything faded to black, and for an undefined period of time, he was completely unconscious.

When Shadewing awoke, everything was utterly silent. Then, he breathed, and knew he was not the same. He smelled far more things than he should have been able to. He heard sounds that he couldn't hear before and that should have been too far away to hear. He gasped and his eyes flew open. It was still night, but it wasn't dark at all. He could see everything clear as day. He could even see minute details on things that he would have previously considered far away. His sense of touch was so sensitive that he could feel every hair of the grass he was lying on. He sat up, startled, and found himself vaguely remembering the clearing. This was the place where he had been tortured and died, but he wasn't dead. Confused, he hugged himself, trying to process all of the sensual information that was pouring into his brain.

He stood up slowly, using the tree for leverage. He inhaled and smelled earthy nature smells, but also something that smelled delicious and something with a dark, musky aroma. Every memory he had was vague and foggy, and didn't seem to mean much of anything. The next thing he noticed was that he was really, really thirsty. His throat felt like it was on fire. He heard water running nearby and headed for it. He felt off balance, but he couldn't figure out why. He compared himself to a nearby tree and found himself to be a couple feet taller than he was before.

He thought as he walked. Overall, this experience was very strange and worrying. He didn't think that this was a dream, as this and what he remembered happening before felt far too real. He couldn't figure it out, not with his thirst flaring up every time he breathed and the distraction of his new senses. At last, he reached a river and dived for it. He eagerly scooped the water into his mouth, then immediately spat it back out. It tasted utterly wrong, and he felt a sudden revulsion of it. He tried again and forced himself to swallow it. It made him feel sick, and, if anything, it increased the strength of the fire in his throat.

He froze as he caught sight of his reflection. He scrambled back away from it with a cry. In the water, he had seen another vampire, one whose forest green skin ensured that it was not Yai. He crept back and looked again, his horror-clad face staring back. His skin color had darkened and his beautiful blue eyes were now the same colors as Yai's, his strange pupils standing out. He looked at his hands and found black, sickle-shaped claws sprouting from his fingertips. Behind him rose two tall vampire wings, their triangular feathers colored a metallic blue. He reached up and touched the ivory fangs that filled his mouth. He put a hand to his chest and could not find his heartbeat. Everything made sense now; his heightened senses, his increased height, his burning thirst, his foggy memories. Instead of dying, he had somehow been turned into a vampire.

Just as despair and confusion set in, he simultaneously heard and smelled someone approaching. The scent promised that it could stop the fire, and he knew it was not water but blood that would quench his thirst. He became very afraid for whoever was approaching and for his own humanity. His dread increased when he heard a voice call his name and recognized it as belonging to his sister. He tried to back away, but the need for blood had risen and held him in place. Leaves rustled loudly as Sophy walked into view. He heard a drum in his ear and realized that it was her heartbeat. The sound increased his blood lust and made him realize that, deep inside of himself, he wanted to take her life.

She caught sight of him and gasped. "Shadewing?" she asked softly. "Sophy," he said. He grew distracted by the sound of his voice. It was no longer a child's voice, but was that of an adult, with a deep, strangely musical quality to it. He shook himself and said, "Get away from here." "Shadewing?" Sophy asked again, coming closer. "No, go! Run away! I can't –" He made a choking noise as something else took control of his body. It took slow steps towards his sister. She blanched as it moved out of the shadows and she saw what he was. Shadewing felt a sharp-toothed grin spread across his face, and not by his will. He didn't know what was happening, but he was no longer in control of this body. It wasn't by his own choice that he was walking towards his beloved sister, claws extended, fully intending to kill her.

It inhaled deeply, smelling the delicious scent of the blood running through her veins. The sound of her rapid heartbeat was another draw. It suddenly slashed at Sophy faster than she could see. She was knocked back, three crimson lines newly opened on her right cheek. Her eyes wide with shock, she touched the wounds and stared at the blood on her hand. A guttural snarl rumbled deep in its throat as it sprang at her and pinned her against a tree. She screamed in pain and fear. It held her up by the shoulders, bruising her.

Deeply disturbed, he struggled against the monster for control. It slowed, but did not stop as its tongue snaked out to lap at the ruby trickles. He fought bitterly, but nothing he did helped him to prevail. He knew that after one taste, he was finished. He would no longer be able to resist and this monster would have control of him forever. He saw how much his sister was suffering and was helpless to stop it. He saw her terror and pain, and remembered his own. He saw the crystal tears that streamed down her ruined face and felt bloody tears of his own well up. Unbidden, memories of his previous life surfaced. Though faint, they were powerful, filled with kindness and love. There was a special focus on Sophy and their relationship as brother and sister. It gave him enough strength to do what needed to be done. In one momentous mental heave, he threw off the monster's influence, let Sophy go, held his breath, and ran away.

He ran at a speed that no creature of mere flesh and blood could, and yet the scenery did not blur around him. He ran far away, ran from himself, from his blood thirst, from his dear sister whom he had hurt so badly. When he was miles away, deep in the heart of the forest, he stopped. He fell to the earth and rubbed his nose in the dirt, trying to erase the scent of Sophy's blood. Tears ran in a steady stream from his eyes as wracking sobs shook him. He cried until he drifted slowly to sleep, the sun of a new day rising over the horizon.

**End of Chapter 1**


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